A former Bollywood scriptwriter quits show business to start a new yoga studio at Arpora. Everyone say Ommm...Puri.

21.05.2015

We can barely hear Rifq Sarao over the steady hum of ‘oms’ and crashing waves, a radical upgrade from the honking cars and drilling machines that used to be her life’s soundtrack. And we think, another harried Mumbaikar lost to the sunshine state. Goa: 1, Mumbai: negative many.

Goan In Sixty Seconds

Rifq recently moved to Goa where she runs Yoga Dog, a new studio in Arpora that you should drop by on your next visit. Here, yoga classes are conducted for locals, wandering tourists and the occasional weekend tripper looking for a head rush.

So how did the script writer’s life acquire this twist in the tale? Rifq took to yoga help recuperate from a serious illness, post which she spent a year travelling across the country, studying in yoga schools like the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala. Having trained under multiple teachers who propagated different schools of thought, her classes offer a mix of the fluid Ashtanga and static Hatha styles customised to give students an optimal workout, develop meditation skills and inspire creativity. There had to be a writer’s agenda in there somewhere.

“As a kid I never really liked yoga. I used to tell people I was doing savasana (corpse pose) and fall asleep. Eventually though, it grew to be an integral part of my life,” Rifq explains.

Will Rifq return to hold Bombay classes during the off season? Absolutely not. She refuses to come back to our city of stress. Feel rejected? Stop by Rifq's during your next Goa visit and try walking a mile in her cashews.